WINDHAM — How does tingle of elation that comes with being proclaimed a wrestling state champion feel?

You can ask Biddeford’s Derek Vermette about that ”“ or Josh Andrews of Massabesic.

And what about winning for the third time?

Ask Ethan Gilman, Andrews’ Mustang teammate, about that.

He’s among the very few who would know.

All three wrestlers earned the right to be called the “best in the state” following the Maine Class A state championship meet Saturday at Windham High School.

With their showings, Gilman (126 pounds) and Andrews (220 pounds) helped lead Massabesic (109.5) to a solid second-place finish in the team standings for the third consecutive year and fourth in the last six ”“ with two state titles in between.

The Mustangs trailed only Marshwood (167), which won its first-ever Class A title, and fifth (including Class B) in school history.

“It was not too bad at all,” said Massabesic coach Rick Derosier. “(It was) a real nice day.”

Gilman, a senior, set the tone with his 7-2 championship match win over Marshwood’s Trevor Smith, which gave him his third championship, after previous wins at 119 and 125.

“Hard work went into it,” said Gilman. “It makes it all worth it. It always does.”

Gilman had beaten Smith twice this year, but was nervous of being over confident.

“Don’t underestimate,” said Gilman. “Anybody can be beaten. I know Trevor is a good kid, and I like to wrestle him. I went out there to give it my all, and I came out there on top.”

Gilman scored two quick points with a take down after shooting for Smith’s legs.

He said that the ploy was as much psychological as tactical.

“It was for intimidation,” he said. “Going for an early shot. It puts the kid on defense. I like to set him on defense because that means I’m on offense for the rest of the match.”

The match was knotted 2-2 after two periods, but Gilman scored five points early in the third to take command.

“The third period is always critical,” said Gilman. “When I’m riding someone like that, you’ve got to ride tight. I learned that from my brother,” Peter, a former two-time state champion. “He taught me how to ride, and I won that match because of him.”

Vermette, a junior, who lost a full year of wrestling while recovering from shoulder surgery, bested Derek McFarlin of Nokomis, 7-4, to give the Tigers a wrestling champion for the first time since 2006.

“It feels great,” Vermette said. “I’ve been wanting for this for a long time.”

His strategy against McFarlin was simple, he said.

“Get on top,” he said, “and don’t do anything stupid to get caught. That’s all I did. Just wrestling to win. That’s all I wanted to do.

“I just wanted to come in and wrestle hard. No way was I going to let the past affect me. I left it all on the mat.”

Vermette’s father, Phil, who is also Biddeford’s coach, said that Derek’s time away from the mat had its benefits.

“It refocused him,” he said. “It made his love for wrestling stronger. He didn’t realize how much he loved wrestling until he was out of it and couldn’t do it.”

Andrews, a junior, won his title by pinning Jacob Bigelow of Portland at 1:14.

“It feels great,” said Andrews, who lost three weeks of the season due to blood clots in his leg. “It feels really good. I wanted to get out there, and I wanted to win so bad. I thought about it for the last two years. I wanted it.”

Andrews said he had hoped to pile up points against Bigelow early on, but did much better than that, once he saw that Bigelow was “ripe for the pinning.”

“It just kind of happened. I wasn’t really thinking. I was just out there wrestling. I just got myself in a good position, and I stuck him,” he said.

Lucas Dion (Massabesic, 120), Dominick Day (Biddeford, 132) and Evan Fecko (Kennebunk, 170) all earned second-place finishes.

Biddeford (41) finished eighth in the 22-team field, while Kennebunk (36) and Sanford (5) rounded out the local entries.

— Contact Dan Hickling at 282-1535.